The IFA 2015 Gadgets and Gear We'd Actually Buy

If you have just surfaced from 'neath a rock, you'll want to know that IFA – one of the biggest events in the tech calendar – has been happening in Berlin this week.

There have been news stories aplenty flying back from the German capital, so as your post-understone-slumber briefing we have collected together the best of the bunch – the techy spectacles that we think you should know about.

Let us begin...

Philips AmbiLux UHD TV and ASUS ROG GX700 Water-Cooled Laptop

Gerald Lynch- Gizmodo UK Editor

Though you think it's all glitz and glamour coming to these tech trade shows, it's tough work. Thousands of products to sift through, miles of unfinished booths and tradeshow halls to explore, days without seeing natural sunlight and a diet almost entirely made of coffee. It's a bit soul destroying then to have to wade through the cookie-cutter smartphones, TVs and joyless laptops that make up the bulk of the wares on show. Philips and ASUS thoroughly bucked that trend this year though, with their respective AmbiLux UHD TVs and ROG GX700 gaming laptops.

Both are so ludicrously crazy that even the most tired and jaded of journos couldn't help but raise a smile. In the case of the AmbiLux UHD TV, its insanity comes through its kaleidoscopic lightshow, complementing the 4K display through the use of nine rear-mounted pico projectors. With the the ROG GX700 you've got a ridiculously over-specced gaming 17-inch laptop that's prevented from going into nuclear meltdown mode when overclocking through a detachable water-cooler on the rear – a world first.

While neither premium device is likely to be in any affordable or practical, there's a "couldn't give a shit" attitude to inventive overkill and boundary pushing that has to be applauded. There are more sensible Best In Show options to choose from at IFA, but none as fun.

Lenovo Yoga Tab Pro 3

James Laird - Lifehacker UK Editor

For all the talk of wearables, drones, and smart home technology, the Lenovo Yoga Tab Pro 3 is my unsung hero of IFA 2015. Yes, it's 'only' a tablet and we've seen our fair share of slates before. But the Tab Pro 3 combines a kind of absurd (for a tablet) multimedia feature set – including a built-in pico projector and no less than four JBL speakers – with proper productivity tools including Lenovo's Smart Window 2.0, a multitasking view that lets you open multiple apps in the same window. Easily its best tablet to date, Lenovo has seriously rocked the bloat with this one.

Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus

Jack Tomlin - Gizmodo UK Production Assistant

I don't own a car but if I did I would be one of those people who would, despite knowing it made me look like an utter pillock, put custom LEDs under the vehicle, because what says responsible adult more that customised car illuminations?

Seeing as I won't be getting a car any time soon (that's probably a good thing), Philips' new Lightstrip gadgetry can fill the unlighted void in my life. The clever, two-metre-long strips adhere to surfaces around the home and can be controlled through a smartphone. Philips recommends using them on a skirting board or in a cupboard, but I would slap these bad boys all over the place – under the bed, on the toilet seat, maybe just on my arms so I can trundle around like a neon robot. Yes please.

Samsung SmartThings Hub

James O'Malley - Gizmodo UK Writer

If I could pick one thing from IFA to take home, it would be Samsung's SmartThings Hub and, if I could stuff them into my bag before security saw, the various sensors and accessories that work with it.

We all know that our dumb devices are becoming increasingly connected, but SmartThings is an exciting statement of ambition from the Korean giant, providing a central node through which we can get everything from smarter lights to internet-connected CCTV to washing machines we can set on a spin cycle from the sofa.

What's exciting about SmartThings is that it is both a fairly open platform, enabling other manufacturers to build compatible devices, but also that it has flexibility built in. This means that you can setup the stuff in your house to react smartly to each other. Has my SleepSense detected that I've fallen asleep? Better switch off the lights. Have I just returned home? Then set the kettle to boil and crank up the heat.

I'm a very lazy man and it appears that Samsung wants to reward me for my sloth. And that's brilliant.

The Sony Wena

Spencer Hart – Gizmodo UK Writer

There were a fair few wearables at this years IFA: the Huawei Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2. That's why Sony Wena has gone slightly unnoticed. Before we get onto the device itself, lets talk about the name, yes, it is pronounced "weiner". Stop chortling.

The Wena is drastically different from all the other smartwatches, in fact, looking at it you'd be hard pressed to see it does anything other than tell the time. The device was funded on Sony's First Flight crowdfunding platform, and all of the intelligent bits are in the watch's bracelet, which (in theory) would allow you to swap in a Rolex or Omega watchface instead, if that's your game. The bracelet packs NFC for contactless payments, a vibration motor for smartphone notifications and activity tracking capabilities.

All the serious bits covered? You can now continue giggling at the name.